Meanwhile, Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister told state television network, Russia 24, he was "dumbstruck" by the NBC report which alleges that Russian President Vladimir Putin was personally involved in an election hack.

The report cited U.S. intelligence officials that now believe with a "high level of confidence" that Putin became personally involved in a secret campaign to influence the outcome of the U.S. presidential election.

"I think this is just silly, and the futility of the attempt to convince somebody of this is absolutely obvious," Lavrov added, according to the news outlet.

Obama, Hillary, McCain, Graham, NBC, CNN, MSN, and all the rest just look like whiny fools. Once again, the Russians look professional. I'm sure that hundreds of Western politicians can't wait for this ridiculous Russian hack nonsense to go away. It's quite embarrassing.

It's even more ludicrous when it's proven that it is Obama's spy apparatus which hacks the crap out of everyone!

“I do not think we should have pushed for an election in the Palestinian territories. I think that was a big mistake,” said Sen. Clinton. “And if we were going to push for an election, then we should have made sure that we did something to determine who was going to win.”

Chomsky recalls being taken aback that “anyone could support the idea—offered by a national political leader, no less—that the U.S. should be in the business of fixing foreign elections.”

As usual, CBS46's Ben Swann presents a simple, well-argued breakdown showing how this Russia hack is BS. He even argues that if the Russians hypthetically did do it then they performed a service to the American public by simply revealing the truth to the American voters: Podesta's authentic emails as opposed to fake news.

It's kind of amazing how quickly and thoroughly the story focus became "who is the evil hacker?" to distract from the contents of the undisputedly genuine e-mails that were leaked. The power of the Democrat Propaganda Arm, aka the major news outlets.

Yeah, Heli, we're watching hurried, anxious, and clumsy full-scale propaganda to attempt a soft coup. The CIA and its allies have overthrown or at least tried to overthrow scores of governments worldwide. Tomorrow, Dec 19 2016, we will see yet another attempt (and probably not the first on America). But what will happen? I would be shocked if more than 3 electors changed their votes. I guess we'll have to wait and see. I'm almost cheering for that arrogant knob Trump because 1) the Establishment clearly doesn't like him, and 2) the chaos America would experience if the soft coup goes through would be highly disruptive.

Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity is a group of retired US intel employees who have vast experience with the CIA, NSA, Army Intel, etc. In short, they believe there were leaks from within the US system (Podesta emails), not hacks from Russia. They also write that any hack could be 100% identified and proven by the NSA. So where is the NSA's proof handed to the president?

The U.S. is no stranger to interfering in the elections of other countries

emphasis mine

The CIA has accused Russia of interfering in the 2016 presidential election by hacking into Democratic and Republican computer networks and selectively releasing emails. But critics might point out the U.S. has done similar things.

The U.S. has a long history of attempting to influence presidential elections in other countries – it’s done so as many as 81 times between 1946 and 2000, according to a database amassed by political scientist Dov Levin of Carnegie Mellon University.

That number doesn’t include military coups and regime change efforts following the election of candidates the U.S. didn’t like, notably those in Iran, Guatemala and Chile. Nor does it include general assistance with the electoral process, such as election monitoring.

Many of the democracies and the authoritarian regimes of the world have been affected by the covert and military power of the US federal government.

To appreciate how aggressive and sneaky Washington has been, refer to this history book:

The book is not an indictment of the United States and its citizens, but rather an exploration of Washington's foreign policy activities -- most of which were largely unknown at the time. Arguably much of the secrecy Washington DC creates is used to hide its activities from its own citizens. Without it, the citizenry would eventually become intolerant and demand more humane, lawful practices.

Merry Christmas to the strange band of inexplicable lurkers and bots on this forum @ 1:00 AM PST

The CIA just can't tell you yet how and why they know Russia hacked Podesta's emails. They want to go public, but I imagine they're still cooking up a good fake news story for 2017. In the meantime, the Washington Post has an always welcome spook -- 30 yr CIA veteran Russia-expert, Steven L. Hall -- to tell you what's up.

Essentially the soft warfare against Russia escalates. Politicians on the left and right are praising Obama as he prepares to 'punish' the country.

To this day, not a shred of proof has been made public to justify Washington's claims. So far, it's a fairy tale. How long will they be able to talk this thing up until someone with authority politely asks some rational questions? Will Trump be compelled to adopt this narrative?